Special polls in parts of Bulacan, Basilan, Lanao Sur moved to Oct

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) pushed back for more than a month the special elections in parts of Bulacan, Basilan, and Lano del Sur that were earlier scheduled for September. In a resolution, the poll body said the special elections in the provinces would be moved from September 25 to October 2. During the May polls, voters from Bulacan's first district cast their votes for all positions except for their representative, due to a dispute on whether to still include or separate Malolos City from the legislative district. The Supreme Court earlier nullified Republic Act 9591 that created a separate lone legislative district for Malolos City, which used to be part of Bulacan’s first district. To prevent confusion that Malolos City could not be considered a lone district, the Comelec decided to defer elections for the position of representative, and scheduled special polls to be held there. With the nullification, the first district of Bulacan is now again comprised of Malolos City, Hagonoy, Calumpit, Pulilan, Bulacan and Paombong. Due to the high court's decision, the congressional candidates from both Malolos City and the province's first district will vie for a single post in the coming special polls. The candidates who were supposed to run for the congressional seat in Malolos City were Francisco Aniag (Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino), Francisco Cruz (independent), three-term Malolos City Mayor Danilo Domingo (Liberal Party), and Tomas Valencia (independent). On the other hand, the original candidates who were running in the first district were former Agrarian Reform secretary Roberto Pagdanganan (Nacionalista Party) and incumbent representative Marivic Sy-Alvarado (Lakas-Kampi). In several areas in the southern provinces of Basilan and Lanao del Sur, the Comelec declared a failure of elections due to a number of shooting incidents. Last June, special elections were already conducted in the first batch of areas in Lanao del Sur (seven towns) and Basilan (Al-Barka and Maluson town). The Comelec tapped lawyers and police traineed in these special elections as teachers refused to sit as Board of Election Inspectors. Some 80,000 voters are expected to cast their votes for throughout the entire course of the special elections, even as the Comelec has allocated around P21 million for it. — Mark Merueñas/RSJ, GMANews.TV